Daniel Pink on Employee Compensation and Engagement

On Monday night, “Drive” author Daniel Pink participated in the #HRBookChat Twitter chat; his insights on employee compensation and engagement were especially apt. The one-hour chat produced too much excellent information to distill in a single post; look for a follow-up post with Part 2 of the chat.

Employee Compensation and Motivation

Pink then answered questions about how the recession has affected the modern employee’s perception of purpose versus pay. The nature of people’s jobs, not the business cycle, is what drives motivation, Pink argued; however, he also acknowledged the role money plays in anyone’s motivation:

@DavidLapin $ is always a baseline reward. Get it wrong, & you’re toast. For all work, pupose can enhance. But $ is a threshold #HRBookchat

I’ve echoed Pink’s sentiments on giving context to employees, so this was a welcome tweet to read.

If you’d like to read all of Pink’s tweets from the #HRBookChat, check out my Storify. My next post will tackle Daniel Pink’s thoughts on a results-only work environment, or ROWE, and how HR professionals can institute one.